One approach for minimising the average turnaround time in Varna West Port Terminal

Abstract

One of the most important criteria for port efficiency nowadays is the average turnaround time. More and more port terminals are assessed by this indicator, so its value turns to be one of the crucial factors for ports competitiveness and consequently minimising the turnaround time becomes one of the most important objectives of the ports. The purpose of this research paper is to propose one interesting tool for optimising this indicator by using the famous Simplex method of linear programming. After giving the approach some exemplary models are solved with real values based on statistics for Varna West Port Terminal which will make the design of the paper original in both directions – theoretical and practical, so that despite some limitations concerning the trade secret, the scope of the material is large enough to be used for any port with any data, even exemplary and/or approximate. The aforementioned practical implications could be pointed out as the main contribution of this paper and the easy way for calculating the final results makes the algorithm really applicable so that each port can make its own conclusion based on its particular statistical data.

Keywords

• linear optimisation
• port efficiency
• turnaround time